Yujin turned his attention back to the book. Sabina, unfazed by Yuri’s attitude, tugged at his arm.

“Come on, let’s have some tea together. I’ve set up a gazebo in the garden. You’ll be surprised when you see it.”

“Surprised? This is our house to begin with.”

“Just hurry up.”

Yujin wished the two of them, who were quarreling in the study, would leave quickly.

“Wait a minute, Sabina. I have something to say to Yujin.”

At that moment, Yuri clung to Yujin, giving him a pleading look, as if asking for help.

However, Yujin was annoyed by their interruption. The words he had heard from Yuri earlier also grated on him, so he replied indifferently.

“Sabina is calling you. Go on.”

“…Alright.”

When Yujin also pushed him away, Yuri, looking dejected, trudged out of the study with Sabina.

Yujin sighed and thought to himself:

‘Everyone only likes Yuri. If you gain something, you lose something too. I’m not going to help.’

Even though he rationalized it to himself, he didn’t feel at ease. In the end, Yujin couldn’t read a single page of his book that day.

Every day was like that. Sabina constantly followed Yuri around, and Yuri found it bothersome.

Sabina’s visit occurred on one of those days.

“Hey, Yujin. There’s something I want. Can you get it for me?”

“What is it?”

Sabina twirled her hair around her finger and pouted. Her face was so beautiful that even a sulky expression was unbearably charming.

But her words were incredibly spiteful.

“My maids aren’t listening to me. You can only teach them with a whip so many times. It’s so tiring teaching those stupid girls.”

“…So?”

The maids serving Sabina were all thoroughly trained. It was absurd to belittle them as stupid, but what she said next was even more shocking.

“Bring me a potion that brainwashes people. I heard it can be made with magic.”

“…”

Asking for a potion to brainwash someone just because a maid isn’t listening—what kind of thought process is that?

Initially intending to scold Sabina, Yujin opened his mouth, then closed it again. He decided to pass Sabina onto someone more suitable.

That someone was Yuri.

“You should ask Yuri for that.”

‘If a mage can make it, then you should have asked a mage in the first place.’

At Yujin’s suggestion, Sabina stomped her feet in frustration.

“I know! But you know, Yuri won’t use magic for me.”

“That’s because…”

The reason was obvious. Sabina always made unreasonable requests to Yuri. Last time, she had pestered Yuri with this:

[Yuri, the chef served a dish I hate at the banquet. Burn all his hair off.]

‘He really hated that.’

Since Yuri wouldn’t fulfill her requests, she was asking Yujin to get the brainwashing potion from him instead.

It wasn’t a difficult request, but brainwashing sounded excessively dangerous. Yujin asked Sabina first.

“What do you plan to have the maid do after giving her the potion?”

“It’s nothing special. Just take a walk in the garden with me and keep me company. The potion doesn’t need to be very strong. A day or two will do.”

For such a task, there didn’t seem to be a need to use a potion.

Before Yujin could voice his doubts, Sabina clung to his arm.

“Yuri will listen if you ask him, Yujin. Please? I really need that potion. You promised the late Count.”

“…Alright.”

Mentioning his father made Yujin’s eyes lose focus. He thought to himself:

‘Well, if it’s just for a day or two, any mishap could be brushed off as a minor incident, right?’

That evening, Yujin went to Yuri’s room.

Yuri was delighted to see Yujin looking for him. It was a rare occurrence.

“Yuri.”

“Oh? What brought you here first?”

“There’s something I’d like you to make.”

After listening to Yujin’s explanation, Yuri rested his chin in his hand, deep in thought.

“Hmm, my mentor said not to create anything that can interfere with another’s mind.”

But since it was his brother’s first request, Yuri’s contemplation was brief. He answered with a bright smile.

“I’ll do it because it’s your request.”

The smile somehow pricked at Yujin’s conscience. He retreated to his room as if fleeing.

The trouble arose about a week later.

Yuri, who was usually bright and cheerful, looked pale that day. He couldn’t even stand on his own and lay on the floor, reaching out a trembling hand toward Yujin.

“Yujin, help me.”

Yujin gazed at his brother with trembling eyes. It was obvious from the medicine bottle rolling on the floor that Sabina had given him something.

And it was Yujin who had procured that very medicine.

Sabina, noticing Yujin’s bewilderment, smiled brightly and said, “It seems the medicine takes some time to work. Yujin, you should leave.”

She added, pushing him out, “You don’t care about Yuri anyway.”

However, Yuri’s condition seemed too severe to be just a side effect. Clinging to his last lifeline, Yuri called out Yujin’s name.

“Yujin!”

Yujin, trembling with fear, fled the scene, desperately justifying his actions to himself.

‘The effects of the medicine were supposed to last only two days at most. Sabina wouldn’t harm Yuri.’

After he turned away, Yuri, experiencing an internal conflict as a mage, went berserk and entered the magic tower to heal his damaged magical circuits.

From that day on, Yujin could never interact with Yuri the way he used to.

***

After hearing Titiana’s words, Yujin found himself unable to follow her. He wasn’t sure what he had done wrong, but he knew for certain that his words had hurt her.

“Count.”

“Ah.”

Someone of Yujin Esrenche’s stature wouldn’t move alone. His subordinates, who had been observing from a distance, quickly approached because of urgent matters Yujin needed to handle. However, Yujin handed over the documents he had dealt with on the train and moved on.

“I have somewhere to be.”

His destination was the detention center where criminals were held until their trials.

The warden, suddenly tasked with welcoming the richest man in the country and the capital’s most powerful figure, the Count of Esrenche, was half out of his mind with excitement.

“What is the name of the criminal you mentioned?”

“Robi Este.”

Technically, he wasn’t yet confirmed as a criminal, so it wasn’t appropriate to call him that, but no one objected.

After mentioning Robi’s name, Yujin pressed his throbbing head and frowned.

‘Again. It’s a name I’ve never heard before, yet there’s a strange sense of déjà vu. A headache.’

Since meeting Titiana, he had often been plagued by inexplicable headaches. He had even undergone a thorough examination, but his physician merely suggested it might be due to stress, a diagnosis given when no specific illness could be identified.

‘Is my physician incompetent, or is it really stress?’

As Yujin twisted his lips, the warden, who had hurriedly checked on Robi’s presence, returned and bowed his head.

“It seems he hasn’t been transported yet. We gather the minor criminals and transport them all at once….”

“I see.”

The warden, fearing Yujin might explode in anger, trembled, but hearing Yujin’s calm response, he felt a peculiar surge of courage. He began to babble about facts no one had asked for.

“It seems he caused quite a stir in the capital as well. I knew it would happen. He was notorious for being a troublemaker throughout the city since he was young.”

“…Is that so?”

Yujin’s expression subtly changed upon unexpectedly learning about Titiana’s family background. The interest that couldn’t be hidden even on his stern face made the warden eagerly share what he knew.

“Of course. Why do you think the young Baroness Este died of tuberculosis? If they had called a proper physician, she might have survived, but the Baron and his son squandered even the medical fees on entertainment.”

So her mother died tragically due to poverty.

Yujin stored that information in his mind and asked about the person he was most curious about—Titiana.

“What about the daughter?”

“The daughter? Oh, the clever one?”

“She must have been good at studying?”

The warden burst into laughter at Yujin’s question.

“Not that kind of clever. Do you think they would have properly educated her in that household? I meant she’s sharp-witted.”

He waved his hand as if telling a tale and added, “She left here right after the Baroness’s funeral. If she hadn’t, the Baron would have sold her off as a second wife to pay his gambling debts. She was pretty, and there were many old men eyeing her.”

At those words, Yujin’s face hardened.

‘Gambling debts? A second wife?’

Words he had never imagined. Yujin had no sisters, but even if he did, he came from a family where daughters were precious, so such words would never have been uttered.

‘And yet, even the local detention center warden knows these details.’

It was clear how much Titiana had been belittled and tormented in her home.